


Take the Shot

by Aluxra



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 13:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17203901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aluxra/pseuds/Aluxra
Summary: Gabriel and Jack have a talk after Jack hesitates during a training exercise. Years later, he still hasn't learned his lesson.





	Take the Shot

**Author's Note:**

> My contribution to the R76 Zine ["They Loved Each Other"](https://twitter.com/tlovedeachother), set during the SEP era of the Overwatch universe.
> 
> Enjoy XxX

Jack kept his head down as the two teams made their way to the locker room, his eyes on the floor in front of each of his steps as the other recruits chattered and laughed among themselves around him. He ignored the quieter snickers and whispers behind him. Or, tried to. He could feel eyes on the back of his neck, sly glances and glares of annoyance from his teammates, his skin burning red from the tips of his ears down to his chest.

He slipped to his locker near the back of the room, trailing behind the rest of the recruits. No longer split into two teams, they joked and goaded each other over the night’s victory and defeat. The humiliation still churned in his stomach as he stripped, dumping his dirty, sweat-soaked clothes and dragging out a fresh towel. He slammed the locker shut so hard the whole unit shuddered, and thumped his head against the cool metal, closing his eyes.

He’d had the shot.

He would’ve won. His whole team would’ve won. His first time given a leadership position for one of their training exercises, and he’d done everything right up until the very end, when he’d seen Gabriel through his scope. Gabriel hadn’t seen him, and as leader of the opposing team, if Jack had taken him out of the exercise, it would have been over.

He’d had the shot.

Laughter echoed through the locker room from the shower stalls, bouncing off the walls and snapping Jack out of his thoughts. He thumped his open hand against the locker door before he turned and slunk into the showers, letting the lukewarm water wash off the dirt and grime and sweat accumulated from the night, scrubbing the earth and forest from his skin. He couldn’t scrub away the embarrassment over his mistake, the hesitation that had allowed Gabriel’s team to sneak up on him and take the win.

He’d had the shot.

He sighed and kept scrubbing until his skin turned pink, until the laughing and shouting died down. The only sound that remained was the rush of water over his head, rattling against the tiles underfoot and running in a stream of soap suds to circle the drain. He watched them, considering the logistics of hiding in the shower for the remainder of his time in the SEP.

“Morrison!”

A thump to the wall just around the corner made him jump, spinning around and nearly slipping on the floor. He yelped, throwing one hand out to steady himself on the wall, his face burning when he recognised the voice.

Cursing himself internally, he straightened and cleared his throat, making his voice as steady as possible. “Y—yeah, in here!”

“The fuck you still doing in the showers? You jerking off or something?” Gabriel called.

“What? No!”

“You sound real convincing.” The words were accompanied by a teasing lilt, and Jack could practically see his smirk through the wall.

“Christ, just gimme a sec!” Jack stammered, trying to stop his face from burning red down to his chest.

He turned the shower off and grabbed his towel from its hook, wrapping it tightly around his waist, then he shuffled out of the shower. Gabriel appeared in his peripheral as he exited the block, and Jack kept his head down, avoiding his eye.

“Sorry,” he chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “Must’ve lost track of time.”

Gabriel said nothing. Jack could feel his dark gaze on the back of his head as he followed him down the empty aisles between the lockers. Their footsteps echoed off the walls, the slap of Jack’s bare feet and the heavy thud of Gabriel’s boot, loud in the quiet stretching between them.

“So,” Gabriel said, when they reached Jack’s locker. “Are you going to tell me what happened out there?”

Jack said nothing. He grabbed fresh clothes and shuffled things around in the narrow space inside. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up under Gabriel’s unwavering gaze. He risked a glance, meeting his dark brown eyes. Gabriel raised his eyebrows, as if waiting for an answer. Jack quickly looked away, clearing his throat and knocking the locker door closed. He stepped past Gabriel and headed to a bench to sit down and dry off.

“What do you mean?” he shrugged, looping a spare towel around his shoulders. “My right side was wide open. I put myself at a disadvantage and we lost. I was careless and let my team down, that’s all.”

“Is it?” Gabriel asked. He hadn’t moved from where he leaned against the locker diagonally across from Jack, his arms folded across his chest. “That’s not what I hear.”

Jack paused, leaning back and looking up at Gabriel. “What do you hear?”

“You didn’t take the shot because you were too busy staring at my pretty face.” A teasing smile curled the corner of his lips. “You didn’t take the shot because you didn’t want to ruin my pretty face for whatever we get up to later.”

Jack groaned, digging the heels of his hands into his eyes. “Are they actually saying that?”

“Well, I haven’t heard anyone _say_ I have a pretty face, but they all think it,” Gabriel replied. “In all seriousness, though, personal feelings can’t get in the way of what we do, Jack.”

Jack moved his hands away from his face, scowling at him. “I know, Gabe.”

“Even when it’s one of us,” Gabriel continued, gesturing between them. He rubbed his hand over his buzzed hair. “I didn’t expect that to be a problem, but then again, I didn’t expect _you_.”

“Lucky you.” Jack flashed him a grin, before his frown returned, his gaze sliding away from Gabriel. “So, does this mean I’m gonna get the ‘we can’t do this anymore’ speech? How it’s too risky and a bad idea anyway to get involved with each other?”

“Jack, it _is_ risky and it _is_ a bad idea,” Gabriel said, pushing himself away from the locker and coming to stand directly in front of Jack, so close that their knees brushed. Jack’s eyes tracked him as he dropped into a crouch in front of him and folded his arms over his knees, resting his chin on them. “We’re not supposed to get attached. You’re likely to die from the injections before you ever see combat. Attachments make things messy.”

“I think I’m too attached to be anything but messy,” Jack said quietly. The heat from Gabriel’s arms seeped through the towel into Jack’s skin, making him hyperaware of Gabriel’s body, his closeness; bringing memories of the feel of his hands, his lips, his hot breath against Jack’s skin. He shifted slightly in his seat, forcing his wandering mind back onto the conversation at hand.

Gabriel smiled up at him mischievously. “Thinking about my pretty face, Jack? Or something a little more messy?”

“You know, it’s really not fair to do that when I’m just sitting here in a towel,” Jack said, swallowing the lump in his throat.

“Do what?”

“That thing where your voice goes really low and sexy and makes me want to do things to you.”

Gabriel laughed, clapping him on the knee and using it to leverage himself up to capture Jack’s lips in a kiss. Jack leaned into it, snaking his hand round the back of Gabriel’s neck, keeping him in place as their lips slanted together. The bristles of Gabriel’s neatly-trimmed beard scratched Jack’s chin and the scent of soap and deodorant tickled his nose. They parted, pressing their foreheads together as they stared at each other.

“I’m attached too, Jack,” Gabriel whispered into the space between them. “Even though I know how fucking messy this could get.”

He pulled away. Jack’s hand slid from the back of his neck, but he caught it before it dropped back onto Jack’s lap, gently pulling on it and encouraging him to stand.

“Next time, Jackie, just fucking take the shot,” he said. “Cause next time it might not be a training exercise.”

“Well, then you’ve got nothing to worry about,” Jack replied with a grin. “It’s not like you’ll be on the other end of the scope when we’re out in the field.”

“Come on, _pendejo,_ ” Gabriel grumbled, cuffing Jack on the back of his head in mock annoyance. “Get dressed and let’s go. Or do you want people to talk about what we’re doing alone in the locker room?”

“Okay, okay,” Jack agreed with a laugh, quickly getting dressed and following Gabriel out of the locker room.

* * *

 

**Present Day**

Bullets exploded through the air, shattering stone and ricocheting off walls. Dust clouded the air and debris rained down on Jack’s head and bounced off his jacket and visor. There was a break in the inbound fire. Keeping low behind the toppled wall, he craned his neck over the lip of the stone. Short bursts of information flashed in the corner of his visor as the targeting system calculated the dimensions for clean shots at the Talon agents swarming around Necropolis.

He dropped down behind cover, leaping and rolling behind a pillar, pressing his back against it as a new wave of bullets were fired at him. He spat a curse, reloading as he collected his breath, data streaming across the window of his visor. He peered around the curve of the pillar, hoisted the pulse rifle and took aim. A selection of new readings popped up in the corner of his vision, flashing a warning, just as a long trail of black smoke slithered across the sand. It coalesced into a tall, broad-shouldered figure, cloaked in black, a pair of shotguns in its hands.

Jack’s finger froze on the trigger, his heart jumping up to his throat. Ana’s voice crackled through the comms from her vantage point atop the ruins, but her words were lost in the thundering of his heartbeat in his ears.

Even after the long, drawn-out battle that they had dragged across half the world, there had been some part of Jack that thought that even if Reaper knew where he and Ana had set up base, he wouldn’t bring Talon to their front door. How stupid of him to think that. How stupid of him to hold onto that hope. As if he was still the naïve, fresh-faced recruit who had joined the SEP nearly four decades ago. As if he was still Jack Morrison.

The figure in black turned its head, meeting Jack’s gaze in the split second before Jack pulled himself back around the corner to the moderate safety of the pillar. Cursing himself for his hesitation. He shifted his grip on the rifle, exhaling through his nose as he carefully glanced around the pillar, searching for Reaper.

The ground where he had stood was empty, not even a shadow to suggest he had been there. Jack swore again, his eyes frantically darting across the open space. An icy shiver ran down his spine, the hairs on the back of his neck rising, even in the sweltering Egyptian heat. He pivoted with a sharp grunt, swinging his rifle to eye level, his finger finding the trigger. He found himself staring down the barrel of a shotgun, the eyes of the angular, white skull just beyond it boring into his own.

Reaper tutted behind the mask. “Ah, Jackie, you still haven’t learned to just take the shot.”


End file.
